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Sunday, April 9, 2000

Dispatches from digital frontier
High-speed Internet territory is growing even for personal business

Leon McJunkin and Don Rodgers live on the edge of a frontier, though most people wouldn't think of a townhouse community and an apartment complex overlooking the Pharoahs Golf Course in those terms.
   McJunkin, a retired computer systems programmer and analyst, and Rodgers, a Coast Guardsman who's a systems analyst on the side, are neighbors who signed up immediately for high-speed Internet service through Southwestern Bell's digital subscriber lines. They live about 2 1/2miles from the nearest phone company central office. Another 500 feet or so, and they'd be too far away to receive the service.
   They say they're also about 100 feet too far away for the phone company to guarantee speeds. They're getting speeds upward of four times faster than with dial-up Internet service, they say, but there's a lot of fluctuation.
   So in Old West terms, they're far enough out for the Comanches to be a threat and near enough to the fort for the cavalry to save them. But, like those settlers in the old western movies, they love the ranch too much to leave it. Both say they're glad they got the service.
   Area DSL competition hot
   Digital subscriber lines, or DSLs, are indeed a new frontier. In the past two weeks, two companies, Jump.net and New Edge Networks, announced introduction of the service in Corpus Christi and another, Affordable Internet, which had been offering DSL since August, announced extension of the service to Calallen and to Alice, Beeville, Kingsville and Victoria ahead of Southwestern Bell.
   The competition is hot, and the competition has helped Corpus Christi. At least two companies, Affordable Internet and KMC Telecom, introduced DSL in Corpus Christi ahead of Southwestern Bell, which moved its timetable up about a year.
   DSL allows the customer to receive Internet and other teleservices over the same phone line. It means that the customer can be on the Internet and the phone at the same time, and that the Internet is connected all the time, eliminating dial-up.
   Breakneck speeds possible
   It also means that customers can send and receive information faster. Downloads can be 50 times faster, but that can vary depending on distance from a central office (there are four in Corpus Christi), the customer's equipment, the Internet service provider, the amount of traffic on a website and the complexity of the website.
   McJunkin and Rodgers, who received DSL in February, both express some exasperation with their service.
   "When it's running fast, I can't be unhappy about that," Rodgers says, "but when it's slow on days I'm not at work, then I'm upset."
   True multitasking possible
   But the bottom line, says McJunkin: "You can be on your computer and be talking on the phone and have your fax on at the same time, so to me it's an advantage no matter how slow it gets."
   Kent Dyer had to wait until late March to receive DSL from Southwestern Bell. Dyer is a computer network manager for the Texas Department of Health. He's a Corpus Christi native who could do his job in another city but lives here by choice. He seriously considered moving to Austin so he could have access to broadband Internet service. The introduction of DSL here dispensed with the need for that.
   Dyer is an example of why high-speed Internet access is so important and why South Texas economic development officials were in such fear of being on the wrong side of the so-called Digital Divide. They want people like Dyer, with high-tech skills and lots of career options and income potential, pursuing those career options and spending that income here. Without DSL, we might have lost him.
   He's thrilled with the service he's receiving, and didn't mind the wait.
   At work and at home
   "It's so popular right now I got pushed back three times on my installation," Dyer says. "I don't blame them for it. They kept me up to date on it.
   "It's a task that I would have to classify as daunting." Dyer, by the way, lives about 2 3/4 miles from the nearest central office. Another 280 feet and he'd be too far away.
   Alan Potter's law office in Wilson Plaza is across the street from a central office. He ordered DSL for the office and would like to get it at home.
   "If you have any kind of business purpose, even if it's personal business," Potter says, "it's bound to help.
   "It's really nice to have a constant connection. You're always on line, you're getting your mail as it comes and you can get streaming audio without having to worry about your modem hanging up."
   Welcome to the new frontier.



Tom Whitehurst

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